Compartmented window cartons



Feb. 8, 1966 G. GERO 3,233,726

COMPARTMENTED WINDOW CARTON S Filed July 24, 1963 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 1N VEN TOR.

GEORGE GERO if M AGENT 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed July 24, 1965 INVENTOR. GEORGE GERO AGENT Feb. 8, 1966 G GERO 3,233,726

. COMPARTMEN'IED WINDOW CARTONS Filed July 24, 1963 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTOR.

GEORGE GERO BY 4 J AGENT Feb. 8, 1966 G. GERO COMPARTMENTED WINDOW GARTONS 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed July 24, 1963 INVENTOR. GEORGE GERO United States Patent Ofificc 3,233,726 Patented Feb. 8, 1966 3,233,726 CQMPARTMENTED WINDOW CARTGNS George Gare, White Plains, N.Y., assignor, by mesne assignments, to National Biscuit Company, a corporation of New Jersey Filed July 2-4, 1963, Ser. No. 297,383 3 Claims. (Cl. 296-4551) This invention relates to cartons and more particularly to window cartons for the protective enclosure of transparently wrapped units of edible articles such as biscuits, cookies, and crackers.

For several years the outstanding trend in biscuit and cracker packaging has been in the direction of fractional packages, i.e. the breaking down of a standardized package into two, three, four or more fractional units of useusually with the prime objective of preserving freshness of unopened units, and with the added advantage of convenience to the consumer. The main purpose of sub dividing the contents is, therefore, to provide longer shelf lifeusually through wrapping and heat sealing of the fractional units in wax paper, cellophane, glassine or other protective material. With the present invention it is contemplated that two or more of the fractional packs of biscuits may be inserted by means of a loading machine into a semi-rigid carton which may be of the type known as a reclosable carton. It is desirable in such a carton that the fractional packs be slidably inserted endwise into the carton and out of frictional contact as far as possible, with one another. In order to minimize manufacturing costs, it is desirable that the carton be adaptable to production methods employing preferably, standard existing types of carton making machines which require a minimum amount of stock or paperboard and which discard only a minimum amount of stock as trimming waste. Furtherit is desirable that the finished carton be capable of being erected, filled and closed in one continuous machine operation.

Further important provisions which protective cartons for fractional biscuit packaging must satisfy are the ability to collapse and lie flat for shipment from the mill to the cracker bakery; to stack evenly, for example, in the magazine of a loading machine and, upon erection, to assume a symmetrical, easily nesting configuration so as to permit groups of loaded cartons of predetermined count to be bundled or packed in an ultimate shipping container of minimum volume. Adding also to the practical utility and desirability of such cartons is a maximum degree of visibility of the contents; and the further provision of a maximum degree of modification whereby a variety of cartons may be erected from identical or slightly modified basic blank configurations in order to obtain the carton best suited for a particular quantity and variety of inserted fractional packs.

It is the primary object of the invention, therefore, to provide a novel carton for the protective containment of fractional packs of biscuits, cookies and crackers.

Another important object is the provision of novel means in association with a transparently wrapped fractional paCk to obtain visibility of the contents when inserted into a carton.

A still further object is to provide inner partition walls for cartons in which one or more of the partitions consists of tabs cut from portions of the outer panels per se to provide substantial isolation between fractional packs inserted into the carton.

Another object is to provide inner loading guides for cartons which consist of tabs cut from portions of the carton body walls to provide funnels or guide paths for fractional packs of stacked articles during their insertion endwise into the cartons.

Still another object is to provide improved cartons for fractional packs having resilient isolating inner compartments which collapse fiat and, in collapsed condition, are of uniform thickness With the body portion of the cartons and when erected add stiffness and reinforce the normally semi-rigid cartons.

Another object of the invention in certain of its disclosed embodiments is to provide slightly modified carton blanks for fractional-pack protective cartons effective for use with a variety of fractional-pack quantities.

Still another object is the provision of improved integral protective cartons according to the preceding objects and having only a single glue seam.

A further object is the provision of a twin-pack carton which incorporates the several objects referred to above. A still further object is the provision of a tri-pack carton which embodies any or all of the foregoing objects.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent by reference to the following description and accompanying drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of one embodiment of my novel carton which provides protection for transparently wrapped inner packs and visibility thereof;

FIG. 2 is a top end view of the carton shown in FIG. 1 with the upper flaps opened to disclose the interior of the carton;

FIG. 3 is a plan view of a carton blank from which a tri-pack carton as shown in FIG. 1 can be fabricated;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of another embodiment of my invention which provides protection for two Wrapped inner packs and visibility thereof;

FIG. 5 is a top end view of the carton shown in FIG. 4 with the upper flaps open to disclose the interior of the carton;

FIG. 6 is a plan view of a carton blank from which a twin-pack carton as shown in FIG. 4 can. be fabricated;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of my tri-pack carton when filled with three inner stacks of transparentlywrapped articles;

FIG. 8 is a section taken on line 8-8 of FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of my twin-pack carton when filled with two inner stacks of transparently-wrapped articles;

FIG. 10 is a section taken on the line 1ll10 of FIG. 9; and

FIG. 11 is a fragmentary view in perspective showing the method of loading wrapped article packs into the opened lower end of my twin-pack carton.

in general, the drawings are illustrative of, first, a generally rectangular multiple pack carton 11 which is fabricated from a blank 12 and which embodies various features of the invention.

The cardboard blank 12 (FIGS. 3 and 6) comprises front and back panels 13, 14 respectively, which are separated by and connected along fold lines to opposite edges of an end panel 15. A similar end panel 16 is connected to the left hand edge of side panel 13 along a fold line, and a glue flap 17 is likewise attached to the free edge of side panel 16. At their lowermost ends, the side panels 13 and 14 are connected along fold lines to bottom closure flaps 18, 20 respectively; and side closure flaps 21, 22 are connected along fold lines to the lowerrnost edges of side panels 15, 16 respectively. At their uppermost ends, panels 13, 14 are connected along fold lines to a pair of reclosable flaps 23, 24, respectively, of which the flap 23 is provided with a slit 25 into which may be inserted a tab 26 formed on the top closure flap 24; and, at their uppermost ends, the side panels 15 and 16 are provided with closure flaps 27, 28 respectively.

Partition tabs 30, 31 (FIGS. 3 and 6) resembling right-angle brackets when depressed and expanded in- Wardly are formed in the panel 13, 15 and 16 by cutting non-parallel lines 32, 33 and 34, 35. Connecting the upper and lower die-cut lines 34 and 35 is a vertical score line 36 which is partially cut to a depth equal to one-half the thickness of the cardboard. Dividing the tab thus formed, is a skipcut line 38 which consists of short perforations alternating with uncut portions of the panel board. Formed by die-cutting of the tabs 30 and 31, a pair of inverted V-shaped guideways 40 and 41 is provided, the upper apexes of which are rounded and the open base lines of which coincide with angularly divergent lines 33 and 35 of the tabs 3%, 31 respectively. A similar construction is found at the right hand side of panels 13, 15 comprising partition tabs 42 and 43, the constructional details of which are identical with the above-described tabs 30 and 31.

The front panel 13 of the blank 12 is provided with a central window opening 44 which is struck from the blank by suitable cutting dies during the blanking operation.

To erect the carton of either FIG. 1 or FIG. 4, the blank is folded upon itself on the fold line between front panel 13 and side panel 15. Glue is applied to the flap 17 which is folded in over the back panel 14 and adhesively attached thereto. The carton blanks thus folded over and glued will resemble fiat sleeves. A plurality of these may be stacked and fed to a carton set-up and loading machine. The folded blanks are brought into juxtaposition with a conveyor carrying cellophane-wrapped stacks of articles such as cookies or crackers. The flattened carton blanks are then squared up from their fiat position by a carton-erecting mechanism (not shown) to a rectangular shape in FIG. 2. The end closure flaps 27, 28, also the reclosable flap 23, are printed with an adhesive-repellent ink forming a pattern of uncoated spaces 45. When glue is applied by means of a revolving glue wheel to the closure flaps, the glue will adhere to the intervening spaces not covered with adhesive-repellent ink, thus forming a pattern which weakens the holding strength of the glue, The carton top is then closed before loading and the carton is carried by an inclined loading conveyor in the bottom loading position shown in FIG. 11. The partition tabs 30, 31 and 42, 43 are depressed inwardly sufficient to permit the tabs 30 and 43 to fold flat against the back panel 14. The partition tab 30 will form a right angle with the partition tab 31, the skip-cut line 38 being easily folded to form an intersection at the right angle as shown in FIG. 2. Likewise, at the right hand side of the carton the tab 42 will form a right angle with the tab 43, thus providing a rectangular sleeve similar to the above described sleeves 3t 31. Within the carton shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, each rectangular sleeve will occupy approximately one-third of the crosssectional area of the erected carton, thus providing an additional section between the two sleeves of equivalent area to form a carton having three equally divided compartments.

Referring to FIGS. 4, 5 and 6 there is shown a twinpack carton providing an enclosure for two transparentlywrapped packs, distinguishing therewith from the tri-pack carton of FIGS. 1 to 3. Inasmuch as the twin-pack carton is similar in constructional details to the tri-pack carton, certain parts have been given like numbers as in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 and their descriptive details have not been repeated. The main constructional distinction between the twin-pack carton and the tri-pack carton resides in the staggered level of the window cutouts, 30, 31 and 42, 43 forming two levels of window openings as in FIG. 4; and also in the elimination of the center window 44.

Referring now to FIG. 11, loading of the cartons is accomplished by conveying a continuous series of erected cartons, the top reclosable flaps 23, 24, of which have been closed and sealed, into juxtaposition with a parallel moving series of wrapped units A-B of stacked articles such as cookies or crackers. The bottom closure flaps 18, 20 and side closure flaps 21, 22 are held in an open extended position to provide an entrance for the wrapped units which approach the unfilled cartons. By wellknown cam-operated pusher means, the wrapped units A-B may be progressively pushed into the opened end of the carton as in FIG. 11, the leading end of the wrapped unit B entering the sleeve formed by the partition tabs 36, 31 and the leading end of the wrapped unit A entering the sleeve formed by tabs 42, 43. As each wrapped unit reaches its respective compartmental sleeve, as for example the wrapped unit B, upon reaching the sleeve 42, 43 will have its leading end guided by the V-shaped cuts formed in partition tabs 42, 43 eliminating any interference or obstruction from the lowermost edges of the tabs. Were it not for the V-shaped indentations thus formed in each of the tabs 30, 31 and 42, 43 the wrapped units AB could not be automatically guided into their respective sleeves and constant jamming of the loading operations would occur. Once the wrapped unit have progressed past the V-shaped guides they will continue to advance under cam-operated pusher action past their respective sleeve compartments to the closed end of the carton; whereupon the side closure flaps 21 and 22 are folded over, glue is applied to the outer surface of bottom flap 1S, and the bottom flap 20 is then closed and sealed thereover. The method of loading the twin-pack carton of FIG. 11 is applicable likewise to the tri-pack carton shown in FIGS. 1 to 3 and 7, 8. In this respect, the tri-pack carton is sufiiciently wider than the twin-pack, thus permitting three wrapped units ABC to be loaded simultaneously into the open lower end of the carton. The compartmental sleeves need not be staggered on two levels as in the twin-pack of FIG. 9. The center wrapped unit, visible through window cut out 44, will be found to fit snugly between the partition tabs 31 and 42 as shown in FIG. 2.

The twin-pack and the tri-pack cartons disclosed herein provide a novel unitary enclosure incorporating a highly economical yet elfectible method of simulating a transparent window for viewing the contents of the carton yet eliminating the need for expensive insertion and adhesive attachment of transparent window materials within the carton. By utilizing the transparent wrapper of the stack packed units per so, an effect resembling a transparent window is created and the wrapped articles may be viewed through the cutouts formed in the carton panels. There is in addition, the two-fold feature provided by the window cutouts, which when depressed and snapped into position, provide compartmental sleeves for locating and holding a plurality of transparently wrapped stack packs. These sleeves, in addition to isolating the stack packs, thus preventing frictional sliding within the carton, serve also to stiffen the otherwise limp carton thereby increasing the protection for the fragile merchandise contained within.

From the foregoing description of two preferred carton forms embodying the present invention it will be appreciated that both are characterized by simplicity and economy through all stages of manufacture and loading in that both are formed from single unitary blanks requiring only a single glue seam, folding fiat for stacking and easily erected and closed by operations capable of being performed on automatic carton making and loading machinery. The embodiments herein disclosed effect a substantial saving in the quantity of paperboard needed inasmuch as the compartments therein are formed from the paneling of the cartons per se and require no gluing operations.

Since certain changes can be made in the foregoing construction and method, and different embodiments of the invention can be made without departing from the spirit and scope thereof, it is intended that all matters shown in the accompanying drawings and described hereinbefore shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

What is claimed is:

1. A window carton for enclosing wrapped units of stacked edible articles, which comprises front and rear panels, side panels connecting the side edges of said front and rear panels to form a rectangular tube, a hinged reclosable top closure and a sealed bottom closure, a pair of brackets partially detached and formed from said front and adjoining side panels, the detachment of portions of said panels to form said brackets providing windows in said carton for direct viewing of the wrapped units enclosed therein, said brackets forming rectangular sleeves within the carton when depressed and expanded inwardly from said front and side panels, each of said sleeves being adapted to receive one of said wrapped units to encircle the same in isolated position and to reinforce the C0311- pressive strength of the carton, and a V-shaped notch cut into the lowermost edges of each of said brackets to provide an obstruction-free guideway for loading said units of stacked articles endwise into said carton.

2. A carton according to claim 1 wherein said brackets are formed at staggered horizontal levels of the front panel to maintain the rigidity of the carton.

3. In a carton according to claim 1 wherein said brackets are formed at the same horizontal level of said front panel, said carton being of a width suflicient to span three wrapped units including a center unit, and a center window cut in said front panel to view said center unit.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,700,456 1/1955 Gillam 206-45.31 X 2,822,917 2/ 1958 Toensmeier 206-45 .31 X 2,946,433 7/ 1960 Hennessey 206-45.31 X

LOUIS G. MANCENE, Primary Examiner. 

1. A WINDOW CARTON FOR ENCLOSING WRAPPED UNITS OF STACKED EDIBLE ARTICLES, WHICH COMPRISES FRONT AND REAR PANELS, SIDE PANELS CONNECTING THE SIDE EDGES OF SAID FRONT AND REAR PANELS TO FORM A RECTANGULAR TUBE, HINGED RECLOSABLE TOP CLOSURE AND A SEALED BOTTOM CLOSURE, A PAIR OF BRACKETS PARTIALLY DETACHED AND FORMED FROM SAID FRONT AND ADJOINING SIDE PANELS, THE DETECHMENT OF PORTIONS OF SAID PANELS TO FORM SAID BRACKETS PROVIDING WINDOWS IN SAID CARTON FOR DIRECT VIEWING OF THE WRAPPED UNITS ENCLOSED THEREIN, SAID BRACKETS FORMING RECTANGULAR SLEEVES WITHIN THE CARTON WHEN DEPRESSED AND EXPANDED INWARDLY FROM SAID FRONT AND SIDE PANELS, EACH OF SAID SLEEVES BEING ADAPTED TO RECEIVE ONE OF SAID WRAPPED UNITS TO ENCIRCLE 